tcaptain

This is more in terms of fantasy and scifi but I guess could apply to any fiction. I was wondering what people did to come up with names. Not just names for characters (although that can be difficult at times) but names for cities, areas, landmarks, whatever

Its gotten to the point lately that I've been skipping the names altogether and replacing them with labels like [protagonist] and [southern city] etc...with plans to go back and do a quick "search and replace" later once I'm all done...

Bluesparkles

i kinda just put words together....lol

like...ummmthe town of besby....lol i took out the t in best and u in buy hahaha pretty clever eh? Thats what i usually do I dont know about anyone else

gabriella

Bah, I always hated merging or morphing words. It never worked for me. I like going on name sites... or, there's one site I have with a list of all the Gods in the world, and I use those for almost all the countries in one of my continents Although, I should probably alter them a LITTLE...

__________________
You write by sitting down and writing - Bernard Malamud.

DawnMorningStar

Names have always been one of the most difficult things for me. Especially when making up names of towns and things. Luckily, in the book I'm currently working on, I didn't have to come up with fake city names or the names of new races of beings. What I <i>did</i> have to come up with though, were a lot of names for characters.

This time around it was a lot easier for me than normal because this particular book doesn't take place in a typical fantasy environment. So depending on where the characters are from, I've visted Greek, British and French name sites to get ideas, picking some of the more unique names for many of my characters. Most of those sites also show you the meaning of each name, which can be helpful if you're going for symbolism.

There are also fantasy name generators and things online that can be helpful.

Selorian

There is a site that I use called SeventhSanctum.com that has alot of generators. It has them for all kind of names and for places also. I do like Dawn for people, I like to visit name sites for different cultures. Hope this helps out some.

Drzava

I named the female character after a girl whom I had a crush on (obsessive? nah) but her last name wasn't in English, so for the surname I translated into English for the story.

Spudley

Thanks for the link there, Selorian. Some interesting stuff there.

Actually, I'm also fond of writing 'generator' programs like that as well. I've mentioned a couple of them here before, but if you're ever in need of a story idea generator, click here for my one. Enjoy

__________________
Spudley Strikes Again
www.BadPuns.com
Poetic Threads
The Poetry Tree

stiltzkin

I find writing a character is so much easier when they have a name to begin with - I'm a veteran of using <protagonist> etc to replace names but the characters just seem so flat and lifeless unless I've christened them beforehand.

Like Gabriella, I too browse name sites - but I guess it depends how important the character I'm writing is - I tend to only look for symbolism in integral characters (or places).
I write mostly Fantasy, I tend to make a lot of names up by stringing sounds together rather than words - I happen to live in North Wales so I can gather inspiration from the Welsh language.

__________________
"If you know you're insane then you're not insane" - Mr. Baynes

tcaptain

Thanks for all the great suggestions!

I love that link Selorian, that's VERY useful for ideas. Its been bookmarked

Stiltzkin: I know exactly what you mean, I definitely get more of a feel for a character when I have a name to begin with...for me [protagonist] was more of a way to keep writing instead of blocking. I used to write constantly when I was in high school and early university then I dried up, spent almost 12 years without writing a thing...but a few months ago my fiancee encouraged me to start again and I definitely didn't want to stop so I was trying that.

HoneyB

I probably use one of the most unsophisticated methods of naming characters and places for fantasy and SF stories.

I just bang on the keyboard and see if anything comes out of it.

If I can see something that resembles a name, I modify it until I get a name.

I have gotten some interesting names from this method (Suraih and Kunar spring to mind) and it works for me, but you have to have a good eye for seeing a possible name though.

Eiji Tunsinagi

I just use already used names and change them up. Its not illegal----just unoriginal!

__________________
"nothing is perfect, nothing lasts, and nothing is finished."

"how will you go about finding that thing the nature of which is totally unknown to you?"

spiritfire123

Foreign languages sometimes, or just mix up somthing thats really hard to say and sounds cool when you do say it

__________________
http://spazma.deviantart.com/ <-my Deviant Art account

beeman65

I use names derived from people or places I know, plus some fun combinations I think of. For example, in the story I'm currently writing, I used my girlfriend's middle name as the bookstore name. She loves to read and her middle name (Lane) fit well.

Naming is one of the best parts of creating and writing your own story, IMO.

fairygirlfairies

Random Name Generators are great because it can generate names from most common to least common.

__________________
"Know thyself."

FieryHands

For fantasy, I generally decide what kind of letter they sound like--whether they are sharp or soft, if it should be long or short--then sound out the name from there.

Normal names, I usually use a baby name site, find something that sounds about right, and ponder the last name for a while. Actually I just did that earlier today. I now have a character named Malcolm Webb.

Cities, er...those are difficult. I just try to invent something that sounds realistic, but it never is. I still haven't come up with a good name for my high school. Its got a mascot but not a sensible name.

My superhero names are simple and suck. Correction: the *good* ones are taken.

__________________
"It is easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them."-Alfred Alder

"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." -Albert Einstein